Foreign Fellows

Foreign Fellows should plan on signing up for at least 12 credits per semester in order to maintain their visa status. In extraordinary circumstances, Foreign Fellows who work for language departments may drop down to 8 credits (two 4-credit courses) in a semester. Foreign Fellows are required to attend class meetings regularly and to complete the assigned readings, papers, and examinations. Most classes meet for 50 or 75 minutes two or three times each week; some seminars meet once each week for two or three hours.

During the fellowship year, Foreign Fellows should plan on completing a program of at least 20 credits (five courses) leading to Mount Holyoke's Certificate for International Students. Foreign Fellows may elect the ungraded option for only one of these courses.

Foreign Fellows may choose to earn the certificate in a specific discipline which is offered as a major or minor at Mount Holyoke. They may do so by electing three 4-credit courses in that field, all of which must be graded.

Foreign Fellows may elect one course per semester at any of the other colleges in the Five College Consortium. Foreign Fellows are required to be in residence at Mount Holyoke throughout the academic year, which is divided into two semesters: the fall semester extends from early September to mid-December, and the spring semester from late January to mid-May. The academic program during January is very different from and more relaxed than the two semesters, and Foreign Fellows are encouraged to participate in it.